Electric clock



1937- A. F. POOLE 2,086,390

ELECTRIC CLOCK Filed July 20, 1952 INVENTOR Patented July 6, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFHQE ELECTRIC CLOCK Arthur F. Poole, Ithaca, N. Y.,; Maryline B. Poole,

administratrix of said Arthur F. Poole, deceased, assignor to Maryline B. Poole, Ithaca, N. Y.

Application July 20, 1932, Serial No. 623,530

(Cl. 58--Z6) whose oscillations are timed, primarily, by a spring 37.

The mechanism just described will be recognized as standard clock parts driven from the spring 2i. The motor l2 slightly overwinds the spring 2i which, due to its frictional connection, may slip in the barrel I9.

I shall now describe the parts peculiar to my present invention. The balance 35 is provided with a pin 38 mounted in the rim thereof, in which is also a weight or projection 39 to form a counterpoise for the pin 38. The motor shaft It has rigid with it a gear 49 which drives a gear 4| on a shaft 42 on which is an eccentric 63. The shaft 42 also has rigid therewith an arm it having a pin 45. Rotatably mounted on the eccentric 43 is a collar Q9 having two arms 16 and 4?. The pin it acts as a stop for the arm 46 which is held against said pin by a spring 48 one end of which is secured to the arm 4'? (see Fig. 2) and the other end to the arm. M. A stop on the framework will engage the arm A l at each revolution of the shaft 42 and will hold said arm until the eccentric 33 lowers the arm. il far enough to escape from the stop till, at which time the arm M will be snapped by the spring 48 until the arm it is stopped by the pin lr'l. This action is repeated at each revolution of the shaft 42 which, for the present, will be assumed to be so geared to the motor l2 that it makes one revolution at each complete oscillation of the balance 35.

The connection between the arm M and the pin 38 is made by a flat spring 5i fastened to the arm ll and of a length to intersect the arc of the pin 38 (see Figs. 2, 3, 4) and hit said pin as the arm 41 snaps from the stop 5i]. This will result in keeping the balance 35 in synchronism with the shaft 42 and therefore with the regulated current on the mains IE! and H. This results from the fact that the spring lit in its snap through the intersecting arc- (a) does not hit the pin 35, in this event the balance is not over a fraction of a cycle from synchronism and we need not consider this case further.

(1)) hits the pin 35 when said pin is going in the same direction, as the spring 5!. This cor- 4 Claims.

My invention is an electric clock particularly adapted to be run from a regulated alternating current used to furnish light and power as shown in my Patent #1310372 of 1919.

One of the objects of my invention is the provision of a clock wound from the light current and provided with a regulating device to compel the clock to run in step with said current. Another object of my invention is the provision of a starting device to start the clock as soon as the clock is connected to the current which is to run it. A further object of my invention is to combine the regulating and starting devices above mentioned in a single structure in which a single element has both functions.

The above and other objects of my invention will be set forth in the following specification and claims and will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings of which, Fig. 1 is a more or less diagrammatic View of a clock embodying my invention, Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are views showing the action of the regulating device in different parts of its cycle, Fig. 5 is a side view of the regulating device showing its action on the balance wheel. The same reference numbers identify like parts in all the figures.

Referring now to the figures, ill and. H are light means which carry a regulated alternating current whose frequency is kept approximately constant, usually cycles per second. A self starting synchronous motor I2 of any suitable form is connected to the mains l0 and II and furnishes the power to wind and regulate the clock. The motor 12 has a shaft 13 on which is a pinion I 4 which drives a train of reducing gearing l5, l6, l1, l8 which drives a spring barrel I9 rotatably mounted on a shaft 29. A driving spring 21 is frictionally connected to the inside of the barrel I9 and also to the shaft 20. The gear l8 winds the outside of the spring 2| and the inside drives the shaft 20. A wheel 22 is mounted on the shaft 20 and serves to drive a center wheel 23 rotatably mounted on a center shaft 24 and driving it by a friction connection 25. The shaft 24 carries a minute hand 26 and an hour hand 21 driven therefrom by the usual motion work (not shown). The connection 25 permits the hands to be set when desired. The center wheel 23 is connected by gears 28 and 29 to a scape wheel 30 and drives the same. On a shaft 32 is mounted pallets 3| and a fork 33 driving a roller pin 34 in a balance 35 on a shaft 36 sponds to the clock being fast and the blow of the spring 5! will check the balance and retard it.

responds to the clock being slow and the blow cl- In the event condition (a) obtains and the r posite direction from the spring 5!, this correbalance is not running in synchronism with the shaft 42 then condition (a) will change to (b) or (0) according as the clock is running fast or slow and the appropriate correction will occur.

It is to be noted that it is not necessary that the snaps of the arm 4'! be the same as. the beats of the balance. An integral submultiple of said beats will also hold the balance in synchronism. For instance if the balance makes 120 beats per minute, the shaft 42 may make 120 R. P. M., 120/2 or R. P. M., /3 or 40 R. P. M. etc. The limit is that the balance must not get out of the synchronizing zone, as determined by the intersection of the arcs of the pin 35 and the spring 5| between consecutive revolutions of the shaft 42. The oftener the spring corrects the balance the less of a push will be required for each correction.

When the clock is stopped the pin 38 is somewhere in the intersecting arc of the spring 5|. As soon as current is supplied the motor |2 will start winding the spring 2| and the spring 5| will start to give pushes to the balance in resonance with its natural period. This will start the clock. There is four or five hours run stored in the spring 2|. In the event of a current outage the clock will continue to run, when the current comes on the spring 5| will take charge and keep the clock in synchronism with the current. It is to be observed that the pin 35 is at all times free from interference from the spring 5| except at the instants when said spring is snapped as above described. The snapping action of the spring 5| is of advantage in that it is never in the path of the pin 35 except when it is doing its regulating or synchronizing action.

I have shown the balance 35 provided with regulating screws 52 in place of the usual regulator, altho the latter may be substituted if desired. When a clock gets dirty or the balance pivots dull it starts to run slow. With my invention the clock cannot stop or run slow so long as the current is on, this is especially true when the balance gets a push from the spring 5| at each vibration. So that if the clock is too dirty to run without pushes from the spring 5| it will act precisely as a motor clock equipped with a self starting motor. It will keep in step with the current when the current is on, stop when the current is ofi and start when current is resumed.

My herein described clock may be used with advantage in any clock work taking power from the clock. For example to run the paper of a recording meter. The work taken from the clock does not affect its time keeping. It is kept in step with the regulated current.

I have shown the part 5| as a spring, this is for the purpose of reducing the shock of engagement of the part 5| with the pin 38 and also to reduce noise. A rigid arm in place of the spring 5| will answer but will not be so desirable for the reasons stated above.

Many changes and modifications may be made in the structure herein shown without departing from the spirit of my invention, since I claim:-

1. In an electric clock the combination of a source of regulated current, a clock having a vibrating balance, an arm, means to revolve said arm in one direction in step with said current and a projection on said balance adapted to be hit by said arm whereby said balance is kept in step with said current.

2. In an electric clock the combination of a source of regulated current, a vibrating balance having a projection, an arm, means to revolve said arm in one direction in step with said current and a spring on said arm adapted to push said projection.

3. In an electric clock the combination of a source of regulated current, a synchronous motor driven from said current, an arm driven in. one direction by said motor through a spring connection, a stop adapted to be engaged by said arm, means to disengage said arm from said stop whereby said arm snaps over a portion of its are under the force of said spring, a vibrating balance and a projection on said balance adapted to be acted on by said arm whereby said balance is kept in step with said current.

4. In an electric clock the combination of a source of regulated current, a synchronous motor driven from said current, a shaft driven from said motor, an eccentric on said shaft, an arm rotating on said eccentric, a spring connecting said arm to said shaft, a stop to hold said arm during a portion of its travel against the force of said spring, a vibrating balance and a projection on said balance adapted to be engaged by said arm during a portion of the revolution of said am whereby said balance is kept in step with said current.

ARTHUR F. POOLE. 

